Workplace gossip has consequences: stealing time, damaging morale, and hurting people. Gossip feeds on truth and falsehood, can become part of "corporate culture," and is inevitable. Administrators should plug information gaps, set a good example, promote a calm atmosphere, anticipate rumors, use informative staff newsletters, and teach…

Survey of 55 men and 57 women in 3 businesses found that those more positive about their work environment had greater commitment and career satisfaction. They received support both from inside and outside the organization, but interpersonal networks did not have a great effect on commitment, satisfaction, career prospects, or organizational…

Paul Stevens' model of career development--a holistic approach to work and personal life as the components of a career--was adapted for use at Australian Guarantee Corporation. The strategy included internal promotion, use of focus groups to identify staff issues, pilot workshops, executive support, linkage with other human resource functions, and…

This special report of the reorganization of work looks at approaches to organizational renewal that are challenging the notion of the hierarchy as the only form that works. Looks at models for organizing work presented by Gary Rummler, D. Quinn Mills, and Marvin Weisbord and a blueprint for creating common futures with large groups of people.…

Discusses recent perspectives on gender differences in life and career planning, focusing on gendered context of women's and men's lives. Notes that men and women develop different orientations regarding occupational achievement and interpersonal relationships that interact with broader sociocultural norms for sexes' behavior to produce different…

Shows that U.S. high school journalism teachers are more satisfied with their teaching jobs than are high school teachers of other areas, despite tendencies toward having more responsibilities at school, lack of formal journalistic education, a longer work week, and lower annual incomes. (SR)

Uses statistical data from Youth Development Study to examine gender differences in work histories of adolescents. Following findings are discussed: females enter workforce earlier than males; females progress from informal work settings to more formal settings, whereas reverse is often true for males; and males tend to increase intensity of…

The psychological distress reported in a survey of 335 male and 239 female Australian secondary teachers was ameliorated by 2 factors associated with control over the work environment: (1) level of influence and autonomy and (2) perceived level of efficacy and achievement. The effect varied somewhat for males and females. (SK)

Business, labor, and education representatives from Canada and the United States exchanged positions on workplace literacy. Discussed were the need for a consumers' guide to workplace literacy, labor's stake in literacy, educators' negotiations with businesses in providing services, and program evaluation. (JOW)

Workplace-English-as-a-Second-Language (WESL) programs are successful to the extent supervisors can be involved and supportive. They know that language and literacy needs are pertinent to tasks at hand and are the individuals that employees try to please most. Supervisors need help, encouragement, and information about the WESL program from…

Training must be preceded by a well-articulated quality strategy and must be designed to facilitate its implementation. Each phase of the training curriculum should build on the preceding phase so that people will have the knowledge and skills they need when they need them. (JOW)

Examined relationship between research self-efficacy, research training environment, and research productivity among 125 graduate students in counseling psychology. Subjects completed measure of self-efficacy in research, Research Training Environment Scale, and demographic questionnaire that included measure of research productivity. Results…

An Australian principal who participated in an exploratory study to ascertain the extent and sources of stress among school principals realized that many of his colleagues felt isolated and unsupported. The study relates the high incidence of anxiety and depression among principals to conceiving educational administration as a technical activity.…

Describes a project developed by AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph) and Indiana University that focused on the needs and tasks of sales personnel by building prototypes of components of a performance support system. Combining innovative technology to support a changing work environment is discussed, and the evaluation process is reported.…

Tested model relating work-family conflict to heavy alcohol use and cigarette use among employed mothers via domain-specific (job- and family-related) and general negative effect. Data from 366 employed mothers of adolescents revealed that work-family conflict was indirectly related to both heavy alcohol use and cigarette use via negative effect.…